Some current networked multi-player video games support audio communication between game participants. For example, the well known “Battlefield” franchise of first person shooter games allow participants to join a team with one or more other players and to communicate with the other members of the team using voice chat.
The video game program code used for multiplayer games is executed on each individual user's computer and audio communication channels are established between computers to enable voice chat. In this configuration, each user's voice is packetized at the client computer on which the user is playing the game and broadcast to all of the other players on the user's team. In some implementations, the voice is transmitted to a server which then redistributes the audio to each of the players.
However, current multi-player games provide limited control over the users to be included in verbal communication sessions. For example, inter-player communication is typically limited to team members and is not configurable on a player-by-player basis. Consequently, what is needed is a video gaming platform which provides for more configurable audio chat options. For example, it would be beneficial to allow users to open multiple audio chat communication channels with different categories of other players as well as non-players (e.g., spectators) of online video games.